Vedat Muriqi’s 68th minute penalty saw us end our run of seven consecutive defeats with a 1-0 win against Atletico Madrid in what was Javier Aguirre’s first game in charge at the Visit Mallorca Estadi.
Aguirre continued to implement a five-man defensive system, while Antonio Sánchez and Kang-In Lee were introduced in midfield respectively at the expense of Rodrigo Battaglia and Fer Niño.
There was little to separate the two sides throughout the first half as chances were few and far between in a highly-competitive opening 45 minutes.
Marcos Llorente had an early opportunity in the fourth minute when he fired wide from inside the box, while Jaume Costa’s mishit volley in the 29th minute was the most work Jan Oblak had to face before the break.
Brian Oliván had fans out their seats just seconds after the restart as the defender hit a volley from distance which forced Oblak into a fine save to tip wide.
Rodrigo De Paul and Luis Suarez followed up with half chances, but both opportunities were straight forward saves for Sergio Rico.
A loose ball in the box saw second-half substitute Take Kubo react first to volley over the bar in the 65th minute.
A period of good play resulted in Pablo Maffeo being tripped in the box a minute later, and following a lengthy VAR review, Muriqi held his nerve to fire us in front with an unstoppable penalty.
We held the visitors’ late surges forward in search of an equaliser at bay to cut out our poor run of form and get out of the relegation zone.
RCD Mallorca: Rico, Maffeo, Raíllo, Valjent, Oliván, Jaume Costa, Baba, Antonio Sánchez, Dani Rodríguez, Muriqi, Kang-In Lee
Substitutes: Take Kubo por Kang-In Lee (54'); Battaglia por Antonio Sánchez (85'); Grenier por Baba (90')
Goals: Muriqi, 1-0 (68')
